Read Textual Sermon from David Jeremiah
One of the sobering thoughts about the Christian life is the truth that God is far more interested in who we become and what we are than in what we do. He cares a whole lot more about how we live than about what we accomplish. His purpose is to build Christians, not cathedrals. His focus is on people, not programs.
For this reason, when God is working in the life of a person, He often allows unexplainable events to prepare and perfect those He is getting ready to serve Him in a much bigger way in the kingdom.
The New Testament says this: “Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives.”
Often when difficult things happen in our lives, it’s not the evidence of something that is wrong, but proof that something is right. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens. Discipline proves that God is your Father and He is treating you like His child. And discipline is not negative—discipline oftentimes is the very greatest evidence of the love of Almighty God.
In our study today, God is going to enroll Elijah in the school of faith—or the school of discipline. He needs to learn the principles of faith that will prepare him for the challenges ahead. Since we have his whole life story in this book, we know what is looming ahead for Elijah.
He will stand one day on the top of a mountain, faced by all the pagan prophets of the entire country, and there by himself be asked to do battle with them before the whole watching world. In order to carry out that assignment, there are some things Elijah has to learn.
In the opening verses of 1 Kings 17, we’re going to read about four lessons that God uses to teach us when He’s getting ready to use us.
The Procedure of Faith
In 1 Kings 17 we read:
“And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.’”
At that moment Elijah became public enemy number one of King Ahab. As Elijah confronted the king, he probably knew already—because we read it in Scripture—that many of his fellow prophets had been massacred by Queen Jezebel. Remember, she went around all of Israel trying to find prophets of the Lord. Whenever she found one, she killed them.
Elijah knew he was putting himself in great jeopardy when he stood before the king and gave him that awesome message. Yet this was the first assignment God had given him, and he was courageous enough to carry it out.
Someone has suggested that the day Elijah left Gilead for Israel with this message he was going to give to Ahab, he must have wondered, “Okay, I got that. What happens next, Lord? What’s step number two?”
There’s no record of any instruction given to Elijah about what was going to happen afterward. He just went in obedience to the Lord, delivered the message God told him to deliver, and we read in verse 2 this little phrase:
“The word of the Lord came to him.”
Then—when? Then, after he did what God told him to do in the first place—then, after that, God told him what to do next.
We’re talking here about the procedure of faith. After Elijah had done what God already told him to do, then the word of the Lord came to him. That is the way the procedure of faith always works. It’s the procedure of step-by-step obedience before the Lord. We obey one command and then He gives us another. We take one step and then He leads us to the next.
That’s very uncomfortable for me—and for all of you too, can I get a witness? We want to know the whole story. We want to see where it ends up. We want to know what problems we’re going to face between A and Z. But God doesn’t work that way. He leads us one step at a time.
How many of us, like Elijah, have had the faith to follow in obedience to the Lord for one bold moment and then felt what he must have felt: “Now Lord, what’s next?”
Paul had that same experience in the New Testament. In the same chapter that records his conversion are these words:
“So he, trembling and astonished, said, ‘Lord, what do You want me to do?’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’”
And if you go to the book of Hebrews and read through the 11th chapter, it is filled with the stories of people who lived like this.
By faith Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his household. Have you ever thought about the fact that when Noah built an ark, there had never been any rain on the face of the earth before? People would ask him, “What are you doing?” He would say, “I’m building an ark.” “Why?” “Because it’s going to rain.” “What’s that?”
All Noah did was go to work every day and pound a nail until God told him what to do next.
I love the story of Abraham. It says Abraham went out not knowing where he was going. The Bible told Abraham to get up and leave, but didn’t tell him where he was headed. God just said, “Follow Me, and I’ll take you there.”
By faith Sarah received strength to conceive and bore a child when she was past age—an understatement of Scripture—because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. Imagine being in that procession, getting up every day for seven days and taking the step God told you to take.
The procedure of faith is a tough lesson to learn because most of us want the security of knowing the whole plan before we take the first step. But walking with God means taking step one before we have any idea where step two, three, or four will take us.
Living by faith is like driving across the country at night—you can only see as far as your headlights, but that’s enough to get you all the way home.
Do not ask about tomorrow when today is before you. Do not ask about next month when this week is yet to be lived. Take God at His word one step at a time.
The Preparation of Faith
We read in verse 2 that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying,
“Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.”
The Brook Cherith has never been discovered. Archaeologists and scholars have searched, but it was so small that no one knew for sure where it was. It was a tiny tributary to the Jordan River.
The Lord said to Elijah, “Get to the Brook Cherith.” Elijah had just confronted the most powerful man on earth. Maybe he wasn’t ready to hide, but God had a plan for him. What Elijah did before Ahab was small compared to what he was about to do on Mount Carmel.
God’s principle of teaching faith is often the principle of isolation. God hid Elijah by the brook in order to protect him from an angry king—and to prepare him for the challenges ahead.
Joseph spent time in the pit and in the prison before he ever saw the palace. Moses spent eighty years in preparation for forty years of ministry. Someone said Moses spent his first forty years learning to be somebody, his next forty years learning to be nobody, and his last forty learning that God can take a nobody and make him somebody.
Maybe you’re in a season of preparation. It can be frustrating when nothing seems to be happening. But don’t despise the days of preparation. God is up to something.
The Provision of Faith
“It shall be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
Elijah went and did according to the word of the Lord. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.
God’s provision for Elijah depended on Elijah being in the place where God told him to go, because God was also in charge of the ravens. When God dispatched Elijah to the brook, He also called the ravens and gave them their assignment.
If Elijah hadn’t gone where God told him, he would have gone hungry. God works both sides of the street. His provision may not look like what we expect, but it will always meet our need.
God didn’t provide Elijah with a gourmet lunch; He provided just enough to stay alive. Sometimes our greeds and our needs get mixed up, but God knows exactly what we require.
Ravens are scavengers, yet God controlled them enough to deliver food to Elijah every day. God will always provide for us if we trust Him. Stay in the will of God. If you wander from His path, you might miss what He has prepared for you.
Faith is only as strong as its object. If we trust people, we get what people can do. If we trust money, we get what money can do. If we trust ourselves, we get what we can do. But if we trust God, we get what God can do.
The Purpose of Faith
“And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”
Day after day, Elijah sat by the brook as the bread and meat kept coming—but the water slowly dried up. What was once a gushing stream became a trickle.
Have you ever watched your brook dry up? Maybe your health is waning, your finances are fading, your friendships feel distant. It’s hard to sit by a drying brook—it tests your faith more than standing on a mountaintop.
What was God teaching Elijah? That our faith must not be in God’s gifts, but in God Himself.
When the brook dried up, the word of the Lord came again:
“Arise, get up, step two is on its way.”
There’s an old story about a poor widow and her son in a snowy village. They ran out of food and wood. The little boy, remembering Elijah’s story, opened the door wide to the cold and said, “It’s for the ravens, Mom.”
That night the burgomaster of the town passed by, saw the open door, and stopped to ask why. When he heard the mother’s explanation, he said, “I will be your raven from now on.”
That little boy understood faith. He opened the door. He believed. He was ready when the blessing came.
That’s the lesson we must learn—to trust God, to obey Him, to take the first step. He won’t give us the whole plan at once. He never works that way. But one step at a time, He leads us, teaches us, and proves Himself faithful.
Questions This Sermon Answers
- Why does God sometimes discipline those He loves?
- What does the “procedure of faith” teach us about step-by-step obedience?
- How does isolation prepare believers for greater service?
- What can Elijah’s provision by the ravens teach us about trusting God’s timing?
- Why does God allow our “brooks” to dry up?
- What does it mean to have faith in God Himself, not just in His blessings?
